Senior Crèche Worker

CrossReach recognise that having a baby is a challenging time in any parent’s life, with 2 in 5 parents experiencing emotional difficulties during pregnancy and early parenthood. Left undetected and untreated the effects can go on for years and impact the whole family.

For over 30 years, our Perinatal Counselling and Therapy Service has provided a safe and welcoming Crèche, where parents feel completely comfortable leaving their children whilst they receive the support they need in order to move forward.

Our Crèche focuses on the therapeutic and holistic needs of each child and believe it is important to create a calm and fun environment for the children left in our care. Therefore we usually have no more than 6 children at any one time (usually under the age of 2 but up to 5 years old) in our care for up to 2 hours a week. We encourage our Crèche workers to play on a one to one basis so each child is getting attention and support in their own way as required.

The Senior Crèche Worker will play a vital role in ensuring the service achieves the highest professional standards of social care practice and for ensuring that quality standards are met. We would also like the successful applicant to help us build and develop the service, as need for Counselling grows. Therefore, this would suit someone who likes to problem solve and take ownership in order to go the extra mile.

The successful applicant will require to be registered with the SSSC as a “Practitioner in day care of Children service,” if they are not already. Therefore you will need to be qualified to a level that fulfills their initial requirements for this. We are also fully committed to supporting the successful applicant with any further development with regards to formal qualifications and consider any reasonable requirements for CPD a great investment.

The role will be of particular interest to individuals who wish to develop their knowledge of perinatal mental health, as all Crèche workers receive ongoing specialist training in this area. This will include subject areas such as perinatal mood disorders and also advanced techniques in supporting parents who may be anxious or distressed and how to be sensitive to the impact that this can have on a Family’s mental health.

Salary is pro rata of 38.50 hours per week (20.00).

If you would like to talk to someone about the types of opportunities we have, or have any other questions, please contact recruitment.team@crossreach.org.uk.

Main Function

The Senior Crèche Worker will, with the support of management, be responsible for the provision and management of safe and creative crèches for babies and toddlers whose parents are attending the Service. In addition, he/she will be required to contribute to achieving the highest professional standards of social care practice and for ensuring that quality standards are met.

Main Duties

1. To provide a safe, warm and stimulating environment for the babies and young children of parents attending the Perinatal Service.
2. To be aware of the needs of babies and small children and in particular, to understand the effects of the parent’s depression/anxiety on the children’s behaviour.
3. To be sensitive and aware to parents who may be feeling tense, stressed and experiencing difficulties with their parenting skills.
4. To be responsible for the support of crèche volunteers including necessary discussions/supervisions/induction/basic training.
5. To organise and manage crèche staffing rotas and crèche allocation on a weekly basis.
6. To ensure Health and Safety, Fire Regulations, Care Commission and Child Protection policies, processes and procedures are in place and followed at all times.
7. To support the Management in developing the potential of the crèche.
8. Purchase new equipment for crèche in conjunction with Management.
9. Establish and follow communication and feedback procedures of relevant information to be passed to parents/carers and Management in relation to the child’s welfare and development.
10. Contribute to and manage evaluation methods which are used to assess infant emotional development and wellbeing in accordance with GIRFEC guidelines.
11. Liaise with management, counsellors, therapists and all crèche workers and administrative assistant as appropriate.
12. Participate and contribute to the selection process for volunteer crèche workers.
13. Liaise with crèche workers in related PND Units re best practice procedures.
14. Represent the crèche at Staff Team Meetings.

Qualifications

An SVQ in Social Services (Children & Young People) SCQF level 7 or equivalent or an HNC in Childhood Practice or equivalent would be desirable.

Personal

As we do our work in Christ’s name the job you have applied for requires you to have a Christian faith and be able to work within and uphold our Christian Ethos (this is an ongoing occupational requirement under the Equality Act 2010).

This post requires you to be a member of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme and undertake the necessary vetting checks.

This post requires you to be registered with SSSC and it is your professional responsibility to ensure that you meet the standards and criteria for registration.

You must have the ability to be self-motivated and work flexible hours.

Skills and Abilities

Essential:

• Postholder must possess basic computer literacy skills including use of Microsoft Office and the internet.
• Good communication and team working skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of working with very young children and have a mature and sensitive approach.
• Experience of working with parents and children in crisis, and being able to work across a multi-disciplinary team.